Badass World War II Vet Gets Equally Badass 'Tank' Wheelchair

At 96-years old, he might not look the part. But in his younger days, Eddie Shaw was a tank-driving Nazi-killing badass who spent years fighting the Germans in North Africa.

When old-age began to take its toll on Shaw, an ordinary wheelchair just wouldn’t do. So using an old motorized wheelbarrow, a van seat, caterpillar tracks and an engine, Shaw’s son built a badass tank-tread wheelchair for his hero father.

“I like to go and take him on a day trip once a week,” Shaw’s son Peter told The Mirror. “I soon found out that wheelchairs are hard to push on sand and uneven ground so thought of an idea to overcome that.”

With help from custom vehicle creator James Brown, and donations from local businesses, Peter was able to make his dad a wheelchair fit for a World War II veteran.

“It is amazing, it is very stable and can tackle any ground with ease,” Peter said. “People have been so kind, it has been a real community effort.”

This inspiring story makes me want to do something similar for my own war-hero grandpa. Too bad we already had him declared mentally incompetent and shipped him off to a seedy nursing home in Trenton.